March 26 marks National Women’s Equal Pay Day, the day that represents how far into the new calendar year the median full-time, year-round working woman would need to work to earn what the median full-time, year-round working man earned in the previous year.
Here are several key facts to know about women’s pay across the United States and in New Hampshire:
Granite State women earned 81% of what New Hampshire men were paid
Nationally, women earned about 82% of what men earned in 2024, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. The median income for men working full-time was $66,010, compared to $53,970 for women.
In New Hampshire, women working full-time, year-round earned 81% of what men earned in 2024, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Full-time, year-round working men had median earnings of $75,397, compared to $61,442 for women in the state.
Among the 25 occupational categories included in 2024 data from the American Community Survey, women had higher median earnings than men in only four categories (farming, fishing, and forestry; construction and extraction; transportation; and material moving). The largest pay gaps in median income, in terms of dollar amounts, favored men and were recorded in health diagnosing and treating practitioners ($181,853 vs. $91,258), personal care and service occupations ($80,311 vs. $42,448), and computer and mathematical occupations ($112,669 vs. $86,649).
The gender pay gap is wider for people of color
The pay gap for women of color can be significantly larger than the gap for women overall. Due to data limitations, earnings data for Granite Staters cannot be disaggregated by both race and sex. However, average estimated per capita income differed substantially across racial and ethnic groups in New Hampshire during the 2020-2024 time period. White, non-Hispanic Granite Staters had higher average estimated per capita incomes ($54,326) than individuals identifying as another race not listed in the survey ($40,199), individuals identifying as of two or more races ($36,732), Black or African American Granite Staters ($35,999), Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander residents ($35,237), and Hispanic or Latino Granite Staters of any race ($35,935). The pay gap between white, non-Hispanic residents and Native American and Alaska Native residents was statistically indistinguishable. Asian Granite Staters were the only non-white group with a higher mean annual income ($63,363) than white, non-Hispanic residents.
Nationally, a gender pay gap among full-time, year-round workers existed across all racial and ethnic groups in 2024, including for white, non-Hispanic workers ($75,508 vs. $60,698), Black or African American workers ($53,245 vs. $49,243), Native American and Alaska Native workers ($50,064 vs. $43,690), Asian workers ($90,578 vs. $73,278), Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander workers ($55,372 vs. $50,342), workers who identified as a race not provided in the Census survey ($48,435 vs. $41,774), workers identifying as two or more races ($56,446 vs. $50,063), and Hispanic or Latino workers ($51,023 vs. $44,186).
Labor force participation is smaller for Granite State women compared to men
Based on preliminary data from 2025, the labor force participation rate among Granite State women ages 25-54 (84.3%) was around 5.3 percentage points lower than the rate for men of the same ages (89.6%). In addition to experiencing lower participation rates, women also comprise a smaller proportion of New Hampshire’s total labor force. In 2025, men age 16 and older encompassed 52.4% of the state’s workforce, while women of the same age made up a smaller 47.4%.
Despite representing a smaller share of the workforce overall, women held nearly half (49.5%) of private-sector jobs based in New Hampshire, according to early 2025 data. This pattern suggests that Granite State women may be less likely than men to commute out of state for work and may be more likely to hold multiple jobs, including part-time positions that typically do not provide benefits such as health insurance or retirement savings.
Women are overrepresented in low-wage and unpaid caregiving roles
Gender and racial pay gaps may exist for a variety of reasons, including the higher likelihood of women and people of color to engage in unpaid or low-paying caregiving roles. According to data from the first quarter of 2025, women represented an estimated 90.6% of workers in New Hampshire’s child care sector, and approximately 84.7% of the state’s home health services workforce.
Workers in many caregiving occupations are typically paid wages far below the state’s median hourly wage. In 2024, the median hourly wages for early care and education workers ($16.62), home health and personal care aides ($17.60), and nursing assistants ($22.14) were all below the statewide median number ($25.29). In addition to lower wages, workers in these occupations may be more likely to work inconsistent hours depending on workload demands, including changing schedules and varying shift lengths, impacting the number of hours worked and, as a result, total wages earned.
The high cost of both child care and care for older adults in New Hampshire may also contribute to more women leaving the workforce or reducing their hours to care for family members. Based on averaged data collected from January to September 2024, approximately 6.0% of Granite Staters (22,300 people) reported that they were not participating in the state’s labor force because they were caring for children or an older adult. Although these data are not broken down by gender, other key research suggests that women spend more time than men providing unpaid caregiving.
Women’s earnings in New Hampshire, stemming from almost half of the jobs based in the state, are a huge part of the economy. Women, and all Granite Staters, fill critical workforce needs in New Hampshire. However, differences in pay, workforce participation, and job distribution continue to shape economic outcomes, particularly for women of color and those in caregiving roles. With the state’s demographics suggesting an ongoing labor force constraint now and in the future, investments in each individual worker, whether through payment, education, or other access to opportunities, will likely become even more important and worthwhile overtime for the state’s economy and the well-being of its residents.
Jessica Williams is a senior policy analyst at the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, independent research nonprofit that examines issues related to the state budget, the economy, health care, housing, and more.